


I Have a Papa Now

by merlinus_ambrosius



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Family Feels, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Gen, Season 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:26:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28370859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merlinus_ambrosius/pseuds/merlinus_ambrosius
Summary: On the seeing stone, Grogu calls out to a Jedi through the Force.
Relationships: (but you really gotta squint), Baby Yoda & The Mandalorian, Din Djarin & Grogu | Baby Yoda, Din Djarin/Cara Dune, Grogu & the Force, Grogu | Baby Yoda & Luke Skywalker, The Mandalorian & The Child
Comments: 104
Kudos: 453
Collections: The Best Grogu | Baby Yoda POV Fics, The Best Grogu | Baby Yoda Whump Fics, The Best Parent Din Djarin Fics, The Best of the Best Mandalorian Fics





	I Have a Papa Now

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on season 2 chapter 14, but it’s really just me getting some season 2 chapter 16 stuff off my chest…

  
  
  


Papa sets him on the stone, but Grogu doesn’t want to be there. He would rather keep flying with the windows down even though it makes his eyes water and his ears flap so much they will be a little sore tomorrow. He likes to go fast all the time, but when Papa holds him tight and they go fast together, it makes him feel full of Light, so full it almost makes him forget about the Dark. 

He was listening when Papa and the Nice Lady Ahsoka Tano said he should sit on the stone and call out in the Force to another Jedi. But he isn’t sure he wants to. 

He begins to sense why the stone is special. If he is quiet, if he stills his mind as he learned long ago, he can hear the whispered song. Here, the Force reaches out to him and he doesn’t have to reach out to it. All he has to do on the stone is open his mind to it. 

But he wishes Papa would sit here with him. He could touch the Force, and Papa would still hold him tight. It wouldn’t hurt him inside as much. 

_This is the seeing stone. Are you seeing anything?_ Papa asks. _Or are they supposed to see you? Maybe there’s some kind of control or something._ Papa paces.

Grogu knows what he is supposed to do. 

But Grogu…Grogu wants to stay with Papa. He wants to stay and make Papa laugh, though he isn’t sure how he does that. But he likes the sound. It feels like Papa is holding him tight. 

The song comes to him in butterflies he can see. They invite him to touch them, to join. 

Papa sighs. _Oh, come on, Kid,_ says Papa. _Ahsoka told me all I had to do was get you here and you’d do the rest._

Papa does _not_ understand about quieting his mind. 

Papa feels jittery, jangly, unbalanced. He is sad already. 

The whispers are more urgent now. Grogu knows the song—he has known it since he was very young, even littler than he is now. 

But there are parts of the song he doesn’t like. It hurts him to join in the song now. 

But Papa says he must call. He should be with his own kind. They can help him. 

So Grogu touches the stone, closes his eyes, stills his body, and stills his mind. 

He enters in. 

_I have a Papa now,_ he speaks into the Force. 

_I have a ball Papa lets me play with. It is very shiny. It feels smooth in my hands. I can see my own face in it sometimes. Sometimes when it is not a toy, when it **stays in the ship,** I can see Papa’s face in it too. Not exactly Papa’s face—he has a real face underneath but I have never seen it. In the ball I see the shield for his real face. Papa has lots of shields and most of them he uses to protect his little Grogu. But the shield for his face is to protect Papa. Papa is afraid not to have it. And I understand afraid._

_**There is screaming in the halls, and he wakes crying. Where is Nurse Droid? She doesn’t come, though he calls and calls for her. __**_

____

_**He wants to climb out of the crib to look for her, but something tells him no. He is shaking. Now he does not call. He doesn’t make a sound. He doesn’t dare.** _

____

_**Someone comes into his room in the crèche. The person is wearing a robe with a hood that covers its face. He can’t sense the person in the Force and that is the most frightening thing of all. The person picks Grogu up without a word and tucks him inside its robe, not ungently, but he is rigid with fear. There is still a small slit to peek through. The screams grow louder as the person slips into the hall, then down a smaller one he doesn’t remember ever seeing. A padawan runs past, eyes wide with terror, braid streaming out behind her. Grogu can’t make a noise, and the padawan never even seems to see them. Did the person use the Trick to blind her? Two, three more turns, one down a hall with bodies, bodies and blood on the floor, then a halt as two Temple guards go past. The person glides into the shadows, then outside into the garden.**_

____

_**Grogu gasps as he looks up into the night sky, sees the steam of traffic through the fanlike leaves of a tree he knows well, sees the moons and the stars, faintly… And then, it is dark.** _

____

He sits on the rock, feeling his mind draw back from the darkness. He wishes he hadn’t told Nice Lady Ahsoka Tano about that night because now he remembers more often, and it brings him pain. He tries to be at peace, as he learned long ago, but he is not good at it anymore. Except sometimes when he is with Papa. 

____

**Little One, do you need help?**

____

His eyes almost pop open. It is not the whisper song. It is not the Nice Lady Ahsoka Tano. It is a very different Voice. It is just as kind, though, and full of sorrow too. Grogu understands. 

____

But still he silently touches the Voice in the Force for a long time, until he is sure about it. 

____

_I do need help,_ he says. He wishes he didn’t have to say it. He wishes it wasn’t true. He knows what it means for him and Papa. He knows what happens in _Training._

____

_I have a Papa now,_ he says. _I belong to Papa. We are a clan of two. But I need help._

______ _ _

He sends the Voice his feelings about the people who strap him down and take the blood out of him. He tells him about the people who try to kill Papa and the mamacore that ate his pod and the mudhorn and the droid Papa shot and the people who killed Grandfather Kuiil and punched him and the flame person and the spiders and healing Grandfather Greef and also by mistake he sends him the picture of Uncle Nurse IG and him going fast on the bike and the kids in the village playing with him and the tiny baby not-yet-frog he petted because Grogu is a little carried away by everything he feels. 

_____ _

_I have a Papa now,_ he tells the Voice. _But I am afraid. Papa protects me from everything…but Papa can’t protect me from myself._

_____ _

Slowly, because he is ashamed, he picks out one picture and sends his feelings of fear when the Dark made him feel he must choke Cara. He should not have done that. _Cara is our Friend, she wasn’t hurting Papa._ He thinks Cara might be his Mama. He remembers the mama he was born with—he can’t remember her face, but he knows she was strong, and sad. _Cara is strong and sad too and she takes care of Papa and me sometimes. She jiggles me and she tickles my ears and she gave me Papa’s necklace that Papa said I should hold on to. It means we are Mandalorians. It means he is my Papa and I am his Kid._

_____ _

_Papa snuggles with me,_ he tells the Voice. _He fixes my clothes and keeps me clean. I have my own satchel Papa carries me in sometimes when we are just walking and not flying with the windows down. I sit on Papa’s lap and sometimes I can steer the_ Crest. _It is really called the_ Razor Crest _and it is our home. That is where the ball **stays in the ship.** I am **not allowed to touch things** except when Papa says yes but sometimes I still do. Papa lets me help him fix the_ Crest _because it is broken a lot and I am very good at it. I have my own bed right in with Papa. I am not afraid when I sleep in with Papa even though it’s dark. Sometimes the_ Crest _does flips! Papa and I go really fast sometimes! I talk to Papa and he listens hard but he doesn’t always understand. Papa says_ I know you are hungry, I’ll get you something to eat _but sometimes there is other stuff that I want even when Papa says **No.**_

_____ _

_But sometimes,_ he tells the Voice slowly, _sometimes the Dark is with me. It comes when I am afraid. When I am jealous. When I am angry._

_____ _

_And sometimes I think maybe I like the Dark._

_____ _

_I need help._

_____ _

**I will help you, Little One. I will find you. I will come.**

_____ _

Grogu knows he should be happy that the Voice is coming. He knows the Voice is Light but the Voice knows all about the Dark too. That is how Grogu wants to be. He wishes he wasn’t afraid of the Dark. He wishes he could say no to it every time. He wishes he could be safe to be with his Papa forever. 

_____ _

He knows he should be glad that the Voice is coming. But…

_____ _

Papa will be sad. 

_____ _

He will try to help Papa understand. It would be easier if he could see Papa’s eyes, behind his shield. 

_____ _

He hears Papa’s voice, faintly. It reminds him that his body isn’t strong enough to stand joining the song this fully, and his mind isn’t strong enough to stand knowing the Dark is waiting. He lets go and feels himself slipping into sleep. 

_____ _

It is all right though. _I have a Papa to take care of me._ He belongs to Papa, and he knows Papa will always do the best he can for Grogu. 

_____ _

Papa _always_ does what he says he will. 

_____ _

Someday, Grogu hopes, _Training_ will be done, and then he will be Papa's shield. Not only will he be safe to be with Papa, but he will keep Papa safe too.

Grogu has a Papa now, and he always will. He knows that even when the Voice comes, even when he is away _Training_ for a while, Papa will never stop being his Papa, and he will never stop being Papa’s Kid. 

____  
  
  
  
_ _

**Author's Note:**

> Check out the[ lovely podfic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28681455) of this story by [ Readaholics_Anonymous](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Readaholics_Anonymous/pseuds/Readaholics_Anonymous)!


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